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James Wheeler (musician)
James Wheeler (August 28, 1937 – December 25, 2014) was a Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the younger brother of fellow blues musician Golden "Big" Wheeler. Compared to his brother, he was something of a latecomer to the blues, as he did not start playing until his late teens, but had a career lasting over half a century. Wheeler was hosting a regular jam night at Rosa's Lounge in Chicago up until his death. Biography He was born in Albany, Georgia, United States. Unlike many of that era, it was not the blues but big band music that first entranced Wheeler. His influences were Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and his real passion, Louis Jordan. By the age of 19, Wheeler had not yet picked up a musical instrument, but was tempted to follow his older brother, Golden "Big" Wheeler to relocate to Chicago, Illinois. After the move in 1956, and seeing his brother rubbing shoulders with blues musicians such as Little Walter, Wheeler acquired a guitar and star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albany, Georgia
Albany ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia. Located on the Flint River, it is the seat of Dougherty County, and is the sole incorporated city in that county. Located in southwest Georgia, it is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area. The population was 77,434 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It became prominent in the nineteenth century as a shipping and market center, first served by riverboats. Scheduled steamboats connected Albany with the busy port of Apalachicola, Florida. They were replaced by railroads. Seven lines met in Albany, and it was a center of trade in the Southeast. It is part of the Black Belt, the extensive area in the Deep South of cotton plantations. From the mid-20th century, it received military investment during World War II and after, that helped develop the region. Albany and this area were prominent during the civil rights era, particularly during the early 1960s as activists worked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otis Clay
Otis Lee Clay (February 11, 1942 – January 8, 2016) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul singer, who started in gospel music. In 2013, Clay was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame. Early life Clay was born in Waxhaw, Mississippi, to a musical family, who moved in 1953 to Muncie, Indiana. After singing with local gospel group, the Voices of Hope, he returned to Mississippi to sing with the Christian Travelers, before settling in Chicago in 1957. There, he joined a series of gospel vocal groups including the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, and the Pilgrim Harmonizers, before making his first solo secular recordings in 1962. They were unissued, and Clay joined the Gospel Songbirds, who recorded in Nashville in 1964 and who also included Maurice Dollison who sang R&B under the name Cash McCall (musician), Cash McCall, and then the Sensational Nightingales. Career In 1965, Clay signed with One-derful Records, One-derful! Recor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Chicago Blues Musicians
Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s, in which the basic instrumentation of Delta blues—acoustic guitar and harmonica—is augmented with electric guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums, piano, harmonica played with a microphone and an amplifier, and sometimes saxophone. The best-known Chicago blues musicians include singer-songwriters and bandleaders Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Willie Dixon; guitar players such as Elmore James, Luther Allison, and Buddy Guy; and harp (blues slang for harmonica) players such as Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, and Charlie Musselwhite. Since the 1960s, the Chicago blues style and sound has spread around the US, the UK and beyond. A * Alberta Adams (July 26, 1917 – December 25, 2014). In 1952, she signed a recording contract with Chess Records and recorded with Red Saunders for the label. She toured with Duke Ellington, Eddie Vinson, Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton, and T-Bone Walker, among othe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Koester
Robert Gregg Koester (October 30, 1932 – May 12, 2021) was an American record producer and businessman who was the founder and owner of Delmark Records, a jazz and blues independent record label. He also operated the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, which he billed as the "World's Largest Jazz and Blues Specialty Store", and later a record store specializing in blues and jazz in Irving Park, Chicago. Early life Koester was born in Wichita, Kansas, on October 30, 1932. He began collecting and trading classic 78 rpm records when he was in high school. He studied business and cinematography at Saint Louis University starting in 1951. Career While in university, Koester sold records by mail order from his dormitory room. He subsequently dropped out, and became a founding member of the St. Louis Jazz Club. There, he met Ron Fister, another record collector. The two of them opened a small record store, K & F Sales. On moving to bigger premises they renamed it Blue Note Record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Stroger
Bob Stroger (born December 27, 1930) is an American electric blues bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has worked with many blues musicians, including Eddie King, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddy Clearwater, Sunnyland Slim, Louisiana Red, Buster Benton, Homesick James, Mississippi Heat, Snooky Pryor, Odie Payne, Fred Below, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Billy Davenport. In 2011 and 2013, Stroger was granted a Blues Music Award as Best Blues Bassist. Life and career Stroger was born on a farm outside of Hayti, Missouri. In 1955, at the age of 16, he relocated with his family to Chicago, Illinois. His family settled on the West Side, in an apartment in back of Silvio's nightclub. Stroger was inspired by the sights and sounds from the club. He was further encouraged to try for a career in music, after being employed driving his brother-in-law to play in a blues band with J. B. Hutto. A self-taught guitarist, he formed a family-based band, the Red Tops (the band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Saydak
Ken Saydak (born Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American Chicago blues pianist and singer-songwriter. In a long career, he has played as a sideman with Lonnie Brooks, Mighty Joe Young, Johnny Winter and Dave Specter. Saydak has released three albums under his own name since 1999. ''Billboard'' once described him as "a gripping frontman". Biography During the 1980s, Saydak played on tours and albums by Johnny Winter, including Winter's Grammy Award nominated LP, '' Guitar Slinger''. Following this spell, Saydak became one of the members of the blues rock band, Big Shoulders, who issued two albums (produced by Saydak) before disbanding. His debut solo album was 1999's ''Foolish Man'' released on Delmark Records. Saydak has also produced his own albums, as well as Zora Young's 2000 issue, ''Learned My Lesson''. He has now appeared on over fifty albums. The ''Chicago Sun Times'' reported "Ken Saydak has built an impressive body of work with his three solo albums and his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Flynn (musician)
Billy Flynn (born August 11, 1956) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. In addition to his own work and works mentioned later, he has worked and recorded with Bryan Lee, Little Smokey Smothers, Mark Hummel, Willie Kent, Snooky Pryor, Big Bill Morganfield, John Brim, Jody Williams, Little Arthur Duncan, Deitra Farr, and Billy Boy Arnold. Biography Flynn was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In 1970, a local blues club opened and Flynn was inspired by the music provided there by Luther Allison, Johnny Littlejohn and Mighty Joe Young. Flynn was fortunate to be spotted playing outside the venue by Jimmy Dawkins, who arranged for Flynn to play with him on stage. Flynn joined Dawkins's backing band in 1975, and he played and toured with them until the end of the decade. Flynn also worked locally during this period and played alongside Sunnyland Slim. In the early part of the 1980s, Flynn was a member of the touring ensemble Jim Liban an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
"Good Morning, School Girl" is a blues standard that has been identified as an influential part of the blues canon. Pre-war Chicago blues vocalist and harmonica pioneer John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson first recorded it in 1937. Subsequently, a variety of artists have recorded versions of the song, usually calling it "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl". Original song Sonny Boy Williamson I recorded "Good Morning, School Girl" in 1937 during his first recording session for Bluebird Records. The song is an uptempo blues with an irregular number of bars. Although identified with Chicago blues, a write-up in the Blues Hall of Fame notes "it was a product of Sonny Boy’s west Tennessee roots and his pre-Chicago ensemble work". The melody has been traced to “Back and Side Blues”, a 1934 blues song recorded by Son Bonds. "Good Morning, School Girl" features Williamson's vocal and harmonica with accompaniment by Big Joe Williams and Robert Lee McCoy (also known as Robert Nighth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp stylist who recorded successfully in the 1950s and 1960s. Miller used various names, including Rice Miller and Little Boy Blue, before calling himself Sonny Boy Williamson, which was also the name of a popular Chicago blues singer and harmonica player. To distinguish the two, Miller has been referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson II. He first recorded with Elmore James on "Dust My Broom". Some of his popular songs include " Don't Start Me Talkin'", " Help Me", "Checkin' Up on My Baby", and " Bring It On Home". He toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival and recorded with English rock musicians, including the Yardbirds, the Animals. "Help Me" became a blues standard, and many blues and rock artists have recorded his songs. Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Kent
Willie Kent (February 24, 1936 – March 2, 2006) was an American Chicago blues singer, bassist and songwriter. Career Kent was born in Inverness, Sunflower County, Mississippi. Although he had played the bass guitar in Chicago's clubs since the 1950s, Kent worked full-time in careers other than music until he was over 50 years of age. Following heart surgery, he stopped work as a truck driver, and formed a band. In 1971, Kent took up residence at Ma Bea's Lounge in West Madison, Chicago. The house band became known as Sugar Bear and the Beehives, headed by Kent (the Sugar Bear) with guitarist Willie James Lyons and drummer Robert Plunkett. For the next six years, this troupe backed visiting musicians, such as Fenton Robinson, Hubert Sumlin, Eddy Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson, Carey Bell, Buster Benton, John Littlejohn, Casey Jones, and Mighty Joe Young. The house band's proficient playing led to their recording a live album in October 1975 at Ma Bea's, billed as ''Ghetto''. Kent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magic Slim
Morris Holt (August 7, 1937 – February 21, 2013), known as Magic Slim, was an American blues singer and guitarist. Born at Torrance, near Grenada, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers, he followed blues greats such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Chicago, developing his own place in the Chicago blues scene. In 2017, Magic Slim was posthumously inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame. Biography Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam. The elder (by six months) Magic (Sam) let the younger Magic (Slim) play bass with his band and gave him his nickname. At first Slim was not rated very highly by his peers. He returned to Mississippi to work and got his younger brother Nick interested in playing bass. By 1965 he was back in Chicago and in 1970 Nick joined him in his band, the Teardrops. They played in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
